Fundraising

In 2004 Jonny (a brother of Will’s) came up with the brilliant (but crazy) idea of the Le Loop (formerly Tour de Force). That represented the beginning of the trust raising money outside of generous donations from friends or family. Le Loop is now our primary source of funds, raising between £300,000 and £500,000 a year (gross). We have also had some wonderful support from people who have wanted to raise money for us doing their own projects and in those cases, we do whatever we can to assist. Please get in touch if this appeals!

The Le Loop cycling event, that offers the opportunity for riders to tackle anything from 2 to all 21 stages of the Tour de France each year. It is the Trust’s primary fundraising event.

Le Loop begins each year at the end of June. Places go on sale in July/August the year before and the event usually sells out. If you are interested in taking on a life-changing challenge, please register your interest on the Le Loop website.

Tour de Force 2015 was largely about heat – lots of it! Our riders travelled from Utrecht to Paris under glorious sunshine which caused its ownFeature Bernard punching air challenges as our riders battled with heat exhaustion.

After our very first public Tour de Force 2012, the event has gathered momentum and was inundated with applications for 2013. The Lifer places (to ride the entire route) sold out in just 20 minutes, with the Tour Tasters in the Alps and Corsica selling out within the first hour and the entire tour sold out by Christmas.

2011 saw our first Sportive. Over 150 riders joined us aged between about 5 years old to a heroic 79 (80 in a month) on the 30 miler. Everyone played his or her part and all riders completed what they turned up to achieve.

The Tour de Force was the biggest fund raising event that the Trust had ever undertaken. The idea for the event was conceived in early 2005 and in June 2006 almost 100 riders tackled one or more stages of the world’s most fearsome cycle race, Le Tour de France.

Premiership football scouts were out in force at Craven Cottage to witness the William Wates Memorial Trophy on 7th September. This annual tournament has been gathering a reputation for unearthing some interesting raw talent...

On a beautiful Sunday in early April, ten teams of six players got together on the Astroturf football pitches of Battersea Park to wrestle for the honour of top dog in South London, in the memory of Will Wates.